selection of domain name

Every professional business should be keeping up with the demands and needs of its customers, if it is to survive. One ofthe essential tools of any business these days is to have aprofessional web site. This begins with choosing and registeringa domain name that will clearly identify and brand your businessonline for many years to come, so you need to choose wisely.

How to choose a domain name

1. If you want your web site to have an added advantage in thesearch engines, think of a domain name that includes keywordsvisitors would search for in the main search engines.

2. Make a list of all the possible names that would suit yourbusiness (i.e. isitebuild.com contains resources for buildingyour own web site or getting one built). Use www.nameboy.com forresearching domain names. NameBoy will generate domain namesbased on the keywords you enter. If the dotcom name you want isnot available, create a longer name that describes your businessor use names that include hyphens (i.e. ihost-websites.com)

3. If possible, keep your domain name short so it is easy tospell and easy to remember. Take into account someone mayremember the name but forget there is a hyphen in it – you thenmiss out on those potential customers.

4. If the dotcom name is not available, try the other newabbreviations such as .BIZ .US,.INFO, .TV. These are not aspopular as .COM, however you may get closer to the name youwant. How to register a domain name1. Any company that sells domain names must be registeredand accredited with iCann - The Internet Corporation forAssigned Names and Numbers (http://www.icann.org).You can get a domain name for under $10 from Godaddy.com.Read carefully what’s on their site as you go through theregistration process. It’s easy to inadvertently sign up for other services you don’t need.

What is the DNS system?

It is the computer action of changing domain names into numeric Internet protocol (IP) numbers which enables computers to locate web sites and e-mail. If you haven’t chosen a Web Host, then park your domain namewith your domain name registrar (this is a temporary location tostore your domain until you are ready to have it hosted).

How to transfer a domain name.

There may be several reasons why you would want to transfer:

Renewing Domain NamesThere is a good chance that you could save money on domainname renewals by transferring them to a different registrar.Check out the prices from different registrars at NewRegistrars.com.

Before renewing a domain name, make sure you know whichregistrar the domain name is actually registered with. WhoIsQuery.com is the only WhoIs known that handlesthe CORE registrars as well as the ICANN ones. -

You parked your domain name and have now found a Web Hostto upload your site to.

-You are not happy with the service or are paying too much foryour current web host and want to switch to another.

1. If you are transferring your domain name to another web host,download (copy) all files to your computer from your old host. Sometimes files may be stored on your host but not on yourcomputer, so doing this will ensure you downloaded the whole site.Keep a copy of your files on the old host, while you transfer to another host, so you won't experience any downtime of your web site.

2. Open a new hosting account.

3. Change the DNS (domain name system) or Name Server information on the current domain name to the new hosting company name servers. You can find this information by going to the domain name registrar(the place where you registered your domain name).Your domain will take some time (24-72 hours) to propagate overthe Internet, before it appears on the new hosting company servers.

4. Upload all files to the new host.

5. Amend and test your web site. Check that all files have been uploaded from your computer and that your web site appears exactly as it did before.

6. Cancel the previous hosting account when you are satisfied with the transfer of your domain name to the new host.

A Great Tip for registering several domain names.

Since domain names are so cheap these days (they used to cost $35/year), you can afford to own severaldomains. Each domain can have its own web site. Mostsmall sites use less than 5MB of hosting space, so you couldhost several sites for a small price. What are the benefits of doing this? Linking each of these web sites together and submitting them tothe search engines will increase your sites search engine rankings.It will also broaden the places visitors can access your business. Generating a continuous traffic flow leads to more sales. You have now implemented and solved one of your crucialmarketing strategies.